You know, he's exactley right, you don't need all that stuff to grow good weed. Basics first, then advance. Don't understand why people think you can't grow weed without having your growroom look like a lab. Just because you use foxfarm, along with a lot of others, doesn't mean it's the shit. It means a plant will grow in it like in any other soil. Yes, your yields will get better when you start advancing in knowledge and learn how to ph properly, correct soil mixes, feed correctly, etc. But it is a total myth that you can't grow good quality weed without all the fancy stuff. In my opinion, you're the one giving bad advice, getting a noob in over his head before he has the basics down. I agree a good grow book can help, but a book on growing houseplants would also work.
Every plant needs the same thing to grow, nothing special about weed. I plant a few plant's in my garden every year, treat them exactly the same as plant's in the garden, and I get nice plant's with killer smoke just like everyone else. It's not hard to grow, and it's not hard to grow properly. Growing properly means you made it to harvest with a nice plant that produced some good smoke. Because it's not a monster does not mean it was not grown properly. I bet you Vegas, are not as muscle bound as say The Rock, or some huge muscle builder. Does that mean you are unhealthy and should be put down, or that you are a strong healthy person, that just doesn't eat, workout and put into your body what it take for them to have that body. Same dif with weed, you can have strong healthy plant's with good basic growing, or monster plant's with advance growing techniques. It's not rocket surgery.